Caring for mental health

You can help make sure kids and youth have increased access to mental health care at the Stollery Children’s Hospital:

• 24/7 access to clinical emergency mental health services at the Stollery Emergency and through a crisis phone line service
• On-site services at the Walter C. Mackenzie Stollery site for kids and youth who present as low-risk as an alternative to waiting for an emergency department assessment

We need your help to provide mental health patients and families access to care from specialized mental health teams:

• Specialized bedside support for kids and adolescents who present with mental health concerns
• Highly-trained child psychiatrists, therapists, nurses and social workers working alongside emergency physicians and clinical support staff to provide mental health examinations and risk assessments
• A specialized team who works with patients and families after a suicide attempt to make sure children and youth have access to available community supports before being discharged

But we still have a long way to go, as the demand and complexity of mental health cases are rising:

• In 2020-21, more than 2,552 visits to the Stollery Emergency were mental health cases, which is 907 more visits than the previous year
• Each day, the Stollery Emergency sees seven children in mental health crisis
• The complexity of mental health cases is increasing

Support child and youth mental health care at the Stollery:

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Thanks to our donors, the Stollery Emergency:

• Responded to 2,600 adolescent mental health concerns in 2022 (up drastically from 1,700 in 2020).
• Provides 24-hour nursing support to kids and teens who present with mental health concerns (up from the previous 16 hours/day) and reduces their time in emergency.
• Employs a team of registered psychiatric nurses in emergency, for the first time, helping to reduce wait times for a psychiatric consultation from 3-4 weeks down to 10-28 days.
• Has an integrated emergency care team that includes psychologists, therapists and social workers, and a clinical nurse educator has helped 525 existing and new emergency staff build their knowledge and skills in caring for kids and teens with mental health concerns.
• Provides therapeutic support to kids and youth admitted to the Hospital along with education and support for their family on such topics as anxiety, emotional regulation, self-injury and coping skills for 2SLGBTQIA+ youth.

In addition, the Stollery emergency care team provides 24/7 coverage of the children’s mental health crisis line which responded to 3,900 calls in 2023 and supports the walk-in clinic at the Stollery that allows kids/teens who are not high risk or in need of urgent medical attention to avoid waiting in emergency.

Year of campaign: three of five years
Funds raised to date: $3 million